So many things to do- I want to get a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint on an accent table I bought recently for our foyer. I think I am going to use Chateau Grey. I need to work on the 2 banners for my son’s rehearsal dinner on the 22nd. Did I even mention that he is getting married?? I know I am wayyyy behind! I also want to clean this place up some- never ending non-requited desire. I want to spray paint the vintage Easter basket that my little Avery Doodle is going to carry as the flower girl. I thought about a few different choices for baskets, but this one won because it used to be my daughter’s Easter basket as a wee one. Sentimentality wins every time! Here’re the basket and table I will be re-doing:I will keep you posted on the progress.

The basket will get a coat of white paint, a real pink ribbon threaded through where the pink band is at the bottom, one white starfish on each side where the handle connects to the body, ribbons trailing down from there with tiny sand dollars at the ends. They are getting married at the beach. 🙂

Oh! One last thing I wanted to share with you! A friend emailed it to me and it was such a good idea, I thought it had to be shared, so after I post it here, I’ll be putting it on my Pinterest page.

Yesterday Gar and I traveled back to a place that holds a lot of rich memories for us. We went, mainly, to attend the funeral of one of my best friends in life, Mary Lorraine. We met in 1986 at an evening PTA meeting. I enjoyed those evening meetings when I was younger. I suppose it was a chance to get a different perspective than that of my daily life as a stay-at-home mom. Don’t get me wrong- I loved that life more than anything and feel so blessed that God found a way for us to manage. As usual, I digress. That night, I found a friend who has stayed close to my heart for 26 years. We shared life, our kids, our husbands (no, not like THAT!) and good times galore.

After we left Richmond, we moved to Pennsylvania and 2.5 years after that, we moved to Western Maryland. By then, my two kids were in 4th and 9th grades and it was lonely and much harder to find friends than when they were younger. I was sad and depressed for a long time. I didn’t even send out a Christmas letter that first year because I didn’t want to sound ungrateful and negative. Sometime the next spring, I went to get the mail and there was a small package addressed to me. I stood there by the mailbox and opened up a pack of SnoBalls. I don’t remember the note exactly, but it alluded to the fact that I loved coconut. Mary had sent them; she wanted to send me something to smile about. She wanted me to know that she was thinking of me and that she hoped things were going better. It was so Mary. She was always trying to please people and wanted to “do” for everyone she knew. She ended her life last Tuesday.

There were dark days for Mary in the last 10 years. She couldn’t seem to hit a stride. She went from having everything, to having nothing, to having little to having everything. Materially. She seemed to be good at adapting to whatever situation she found herself in. Seemed to…though at the last, Mary couldn’t please all the loved ones in her life. She was a loyal wife and wanted to be a loyal mother and loving grandmother. This proved, in her mind, to be impossible.

Mary had a mental illness and as the presiding priest at her funeral said, it was like dying from terminal cancer. It took a long time and led her on a harrowing journey, but the mental illness finally won. He went on to say that our heavenly Father would have mercy on her and would give her peace and a heavenly home where she would be happy and cared for forever. We all needed to know that.

That doesn’t make me miss her less. She is still gone. I have memories, the last phone message she left me, pictures, recipes, gifts she gave me. There is anger, disbelief, and so much sorrow. I grieve for the moments going forward that we will never share. She won’t be at my son’s wedding and we won’t rock our grandbabies together on our laps.

Oh, Mary. I will always treasure our friendship and all the things you taught me about mothering, being a housewife, being frugal and “making quilts out of the scraps” we have been given. You are finally at peace and there are no more struggles. Thank you for being my friend.

I have been wandering around the blogosphere trying to figure out where I best fit in. Is it on Blogger.com? WordPress.com? Not being a totally savvy blogger as of yet, I have questioned my “place” in the chic cyberworld of bloggers.

So, I am back here. I am going to try to make sure that this is what I need and want and that I will stay put! I have read many “horror” stories about successful bloggers who have started in one place and decided to go to another only to find that there is soooo much updating to the new blog that needs to be done. All I can say is ugh. U-G-H. So, I’m gonna start here (although my first three blog posts are on a different blogdom.).

Here goes-

I am older than most of the bloggers that I read; perhaps I am drawn to them for ideas that would help me with my 2.5 year old granddaughter. The blogs I cruise are mostly written by young, 30-40 year old Mommas who have younger children. I have also found that a large majority of the blogs I favor are written by devout Christian young women. I have not fully analyzed this, but I think it may have something to do with being a good steward with what we’re given, wanting to give the children in our charge a wholesome, exciting and colorful world to grow up in and to be able to use creativity to enhance the lives of all of those around us.

I miss blogging and when I do it, it does my soul good. It makes me feel like I can maybe be disciplined- a life-long dream and goal. So- I’m gonna try.Maybe I can share one picture – even amidst all the chaos of the many important anniversaries and holidays that this weekend holds. Let’s see!

Update: June 17th.

My BFF and Best Dad Ever

Got a short visit in with my Dad and Mom yesterday and today. The times I see them are too few and far between despite only a 2.5 hour distance. Gotta do better at this! But, to my favorite dad of all times, my husband and bff, Gary, I say – “God bless you, hunna bunna! You are one great Dad and husband and we all love you more than you could ever know!”